Audi’s twin-turbocharged 5.9-liter V-12 TDI will be one of the most powerful engines available in any SUV—and it will be the most powerful diesel on the market. Pumping out about 500 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, this Q7 should leave any other SUV in its dust—diesel or gasoline. Expect a 0-to-62-mph time of about 5.5 seconds and a governed top speed of 155 mph.

The V-12 TDI engine is inspired by Audi’s Le Mans–winning racing engine, although virtually no components are shared. In January, it was shown in a second show car, the luscious R8 V-12 TDI, which may also see production.

The Q7 V-12 TDI will be available in Europe this fall. Michael Dick, Audi management board member for technical development, told us in a recent interview that Audi will decide within the next year whether to offer the Q7 V-12 diesel in the U.S.

In the meantime, Americans must be content with the 2009 Q7 3.0-liter TDI that is due later this year or in early 2009. Audi will use the V-6 turbo-diesel to gauge acceptance of oil burners in this market, Dick says. Currently, about 30 percent of Q7 buyers are opting for the V-8 gasoline engine, the rest being content with the 3.6-liter V-6.

Additionally, a hybrid Q7 is slated to go into production at the end of the year, the result of collaborative development efforts with Volkswagen and Porsche. The hybrid will be incorporated into the current-generation Q7.

The Volkswagen Group is streamlining the way it engineers future vehicles for use by all of its brands and paring its number of global architectures to four, including the new modular longitudinal platform, a giant family of vehicles with longitudinally mounted engines for front- and all-wheel-drive vehicles ranging from the Audi A4, A5, and Q7 to the VW Passat and Phaeton and even Bentleys.

This platform will also serve as the basis for all Audi hybrids in the future, Dick says, as the modular hybrid system is designed for integration with vehicles with longitudinally mounted engines. The next-generation Q7 will come from the new architecture. The platform is flexible enough to offer hybrids in all Audis, but which ones actually get the system will be determined by product and market to determine what makes sense, he tells us.

For now, though, the focus is on the diesel. Whereas BMW and Mercedes are showing vehicles designed to raise awareness that modern diesels are clean, Audi is going after a far more ambitious goal: proving diesels are cool.

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